A Little Gesture Goes a Long Way
by Aikroa
Summary: Chibitalia finds a spider, and Holy Roman Empire comes to the rescue.


Italy was a small nation, who was constantly bullied by the larger and more experienced nations. One of these nations happened to be Holy Roman Empire, a powerful nation but his personification's form was still quite small. Holy Rome had his eyes on the little Italian for quite some time, and although he scared him sometimes, Italy still found that he would sometimes run to Holy Rome when he was in trouble.

Feliciano dusted the shelves that he could reach and swept the floor. Austria had assigned him to clean one of the old storage rooms that hadn't been cleaned in some time, and the little nation diligently started to work so he could get some dinner that night.

"Ve~! There's so much dust and dirt in this room! I wish Mr. Austria hadn't told me to clean this..." he complained to himself as he moved around the furniture he could, to clean underneath them. As he moved an old painting that was leaning against the wall, he saw a bit of movement from behind the painting.

Holy Roman Empire was busy practicing his own painting, in an attempt to be able to win the Italian's heart. He wasn't doing so well, and was growing frustrated until he heard the sound of footsteps and Italy's crying.

"Holy Roman Empire, help me!" Italy called running into the room where Holy Rome was, tears at the corner of his eyes.

"I – Italy, what is the matter? Did something happen?" Holy Rome asked, as Italy was now up close to him. Holy Roman Empire's face was slightly red as he noticed how close in proximity he was to Italy. _S-She's so close._

"I was cleaning in the old s-storage room like Mr. Austria a-asked me to, and then I moved a painting and… and… a h-huge spider showed up!" Italy said almost frantically with a scared tone in his voice. "Can you get rid of it f-for me?"

Holy Rome's blush got a little deeper. "O-Of course I can, Italy! It's only a spider of course…" he said, wanting to prove to his love that he was brave, despite being small.

"Ve… r-really! Wow, Holy Rome is so brave!" Italy said, his mood instantly getting better now that Holy Roman Empire had agreed to help him. He didn't even notice Holy Roman Empire's dark red blush when he called him brave.

The little Italian led Holy Roman Empire down the hallway to the old storage room where he had been cleaning. "It's in there!" he said in a whisper, not going inside, in fear the spider would attack him.

Holy Roman Empire nodded and headed inside, expecting to find the biggest spider he had ever encountered, based on the way Italy had described it. When he did get inside however, it was more like the smallest one he had ever encountered. It couldn't have been much bigger than the nail on his smallest finger. But, it _had_ scared Italy, so he wouldn't question its size and get rid of it for his love! He moved to go and squish it with his foot, but Italy's voice stopped him.

"Waaaah! What are you doing?" Italy's voice was again drenched in a sad and worried tone.

"I was getting rid of the spider for you…?" Holy Roman Empire said, wondering why Italy had now questioned his method of getting rid of a spider.

"B-But I don't want you to kill it!" Italy said, almost on the brink of tears, despite having just stopped crying in fear.

Holy Roman Empire didn't know what to do. On one hand, Italy wanted him to get rid of the spider. But on the other, he didn't want the spider to be killed. _What on earth does she want me to do, then? _Glancing around the room, he answered his own question. Grabbing an old dusting rag, he gently guided the spider onto the rag and then placed the rag outside a nearby window and shook the spider off, making it land in the grass below. "There. All better now." He said triumphantly.

"You did it!" Italy cheered, now entering the room and wrapping his tiny arms around Holy Roman Empire. "And you didn't kill the spider like I thought you were going to!"

Holy Roman Empire blushed as Italy embraced him. "W-Well, of course I wouldn't kill the poor thing… it didn't do anything…" he said, avoiding Italy's gaze.

Italy smiled and placed a quick, chaste kiss on both of Holy Roman Empire's cheeks. "_Grazie_, Holy Roman Empire!" He said. "You're my hero!"

"W-Well… you're welcome… I … I have to go finish some work! I will see you again at dinner, Italy." Holy Roman Empire fibbed as he ran off to his room to roll around on his bed with excitement at the thought of being his lover's hero.


End file.
